Hey all, figured I’d get our podcast announced here. Eclectic Gamers Podcast began at the start of 2016, and we cover pinball (probably the bulk of our content in most episodes), video games (home-based, not arcade), and tabletop gaming (card games, RPGs, that sort of thing). Pinball is normally the first topic we hit (so easy to skip the rest if you don’t care for our other subjects).

We just released Episode #16, where Jack Danger (Dead Flip, TILT THRU) joined as a guest host. Pinball topics in the episode are favorite/least favorite competitive tournament formats, the possible Cactus Canyon remake, and WatchMojo’s Top 10 Pinball Machines.

I gotta say, I so so so sick of hearing about “ghosting.” Totally fed up with it. At this point I either shut off the podcast, or put it on double speed so I don’t hear about people with lots of money whining that their new games aren’t perfect. I’m just complaining in general, don’t take this to heart with your “ghosting” coverage.

No worries, I never expect everyone to like all the topics. I didn’t time the segment, I think 2 minutes? I mostly just wanted to say we know about the issue but not anyone who actually has the problem, and that we planned not to comment on it further.

Not that the Batman segment is very long either. Hard to talk about without photos. Most of this episode is Battlefield 1 (the guest host is not big into pinball /shrug).

To be fair, it might look pretty minor now but in 20 years all these games could end up like the System11s that have inserts raise through the factory mylar and totally fuck everything up. As long as Stern doesn’t do something about it I’d say it’s worth prodding them about in any way possible if you want these machines to last for a long time.

I understand why it’s an issue, I just don’t want to hear about it anymore. There’s no real developments of Stern deciding to acknowledge it, so why have the same stupid, circular, annoying conversation about it on podcast after podcast after podcast? I’ve heard at least 5 shows rant about this at length in the last two weeks.

T-shirt design is Episode #17’s cover art (blue T-shirt with white art). We’ll draw for a Large and an Extra Large. Just rate/review on iTunes and fill out the above form. U.S. only so postage doesn’t kill me. Drawing is in a week.

Tony is back, and there’s so much news to cover, especially pinball news! Pinball: The guys talk about the newly announced American Pinball, their association with JPOP, and the stated offer …

Pinball segment is pretty long this time. We talk about what we know/think we know about newly announced American Pinball. Then, Batman 66 (the pricing and the SLE application, since that info came out after the last episode aired). Finally, a little bit about what Spooky revealed regarding game #3.

Tony and Dennis were so busy over the last two weeks that most of this episode had to be ad libbed, and it shows. A weird mix of pinball, pizza, hot dogs, and gaming. Pinball: Brief updates/thought…

Short episode overall. The pinball segment talks about Pinapalooza, a little bit about American Pinball and the research project I’ve been working on regarding them, a tiny bit about Expo, and a discussion topic where we talk about what we’d do if we started up a pinball manufacturing company.

Tony and Dennis give you the minimum from Pinball Expo to survive, talk a bit about the upcoming Nintendo “console”, and have a single tabletop game to trash. Lots of fun! Pinball: Denn…

Pinball segment opens with the summary of my research project into American Pinball (the episode’s first link is to the compilation of documents, for those curious for more detail). This allows us to transition to Expo, where we talk about American Pinball, Stern, Jersey Jack, and Heighway.

That takes up most of the episode, but there is, as usual, some video game and tabletop discussion after the pinball segment.

With added dishwasher sounds for your listening pleasure! Pinball: Tony and Dennis launch their 2016 Modern Era Pinball Designer Tournament (see the show notes below for the link to Round 1’s…

The pinball segment launches our 2016 Modern Era Pinball Designer Tournament (you may vote in Round 1 here: https://goo.gl/forms/UTedDuuDobvMJJIL2). From there, Tony and Dennis run through their top 5 pinball designers of all time, and conclude with their lists of pinball podcasts (in whole or in part) they currently subscribe to.

I’ve listened to a couple past episodes (the Circus Voltaire one for example) one-off. I’ve added it to my subscription to give it a focused try (starting with #39). I don’t really mind local discussions on shows (though how much time is spent on it does make a difference). There are also pinball podcasts out there I’m sure I haven’t tried (I am not aggressive about adding new content to my subscription list).

For me, the host dynamic is the main thing on entertainment podcasts. I like the discussion to have a good cadence (or rhythm) to it, coupled with a sense of focus. I can listen to a lot if that’s met. For example, I subscribe to Geek History Lesson, but I don’t really read comic books (which is what they mostly cover). The hosts interact well, and that’s enough for me.

Pinball: The guys walk through the results of Round 2 of the 2016 Modern Era Pinball Designer Tournament. From there, they talk about the voting controvery surrounding the Ultimate Stern Fan contes…

Besides some brief talk by me about a new pinball project I’m working on (an Atari Superman), the pinball section consists of just two topics. First, we continue the 2016 Modern Era Pinball Designer Tournament. Second, we criticize how Stern is handling the voting for their Ultimate Fan contest.

What a coincidence that I happened to be playing Paragon on VP right as it was mentioned. I don’t know if I can say I love it, but it treats me rather like GB where I hate it but just can’t quit. Make sure you add Stellar Wars to to mix, I think that it is a beautiful game that plays like canon.

Do you guys also not think that your designer vote may have been a little swayed by name recognition, especially with the debut of Dialed In and Batman 66?

As for the Stern fan contest, I don’t think Stern went wrong with having the public vote. “Biggest Fan” is so subjective that there isn’t a reasonable way for even a panel of experts to choose the winner. It’s a publicity stunt, plain and simple, and I don’t think that it matters to Stern much that a few old nerds are complaining about it. It’s probably more of a way to get their name across to non-pinball gaming communities. I also can’t blame contestants for trying to get votes any way possible even if it’s “cheating”. Pinball as a game seems to condone exploiting anything that isn’t explicitly forbidden. Knowing pinball players, stuffing ballots would be par for the course.

That being said, I am possibly Stern’s biggest fan although I do not own any machines. I don’t think machine ownership makes you any more or less a lover of pinball. For a location player like me to like Stern would still be beneficial to Stern as it encourages operators to purchase their machines.

I actually have little Paragon experience; it’s just what a lot of local players cite when talking about widebody love, so I tip my hat to its prestige. Stellar Wars is on my preliminary list for inclusion, I just went back and checked to be sure.

I do think you are correct in the role name recognition plays. I thought Popadiuk would beat Nordman in round 2 based off recognition (and I was wrong in that regard), but Tony did note he thought Gomez beat M. Ritchie because Gomez has more modern games people recognize. I think your theory about Dialed In and Batman 66 could continue to hold that true. But, all four remaining designers have recent titles to their credit, so in that regard I imagine the recognition is relatively equal.

Stern is, in my view, the only one to blame for the resulting issues on the ballots. While I feel a public vote was a mistake broadly, I think it could have been executed better while still holding a public vote (no repeated votes per day, don’t list the number of votes received thus far publicly, etc.). Coupled with the ability to purge votes, I think they opened themselves up to foul calls that could have been easily avoided. They may not care, and that’s their choice. It was enough for me not to participate (and they probably don’t care about that, either!) in either submitting or voting.

I personally like Stern games. My only NIB purchase was a Stern, and if I were to buy another NIB then it would likely be a Stern. I hope they do well; that’s why it always stings a bit when they do things I think hurt their rep.